Mill Village Farms and local chefs collaborate on recipes using FoodShare produce
Four years ago, I received a call asking if I would be interested in volunteering with Mill Village Farms to host a cooking show for a new initiative the nonprofit was brainstorming called Fresh Out of the Box with FoodShare. Shifting out of a fourteen-year career in radio news, I was curious to take on new service-oriented endeavors, and this one seemed to combine my love for broadcasting, community service, and healthy food, so I happily accepted the offer.
Mill Village Farms is an umbrella enterprise under Mill Village Ministries. It is a nonprofit farm and produce distributor that provides healthy produce, youth employment, and food system education for all in Greenville. The enterprise also runs a FoodShare Greenville program in partnership with FoodShareSC. The benefits of this program are numerous.
Many people in neighborhoods in Greenville and across the state lack access and/or the financial resources to put healthy produce on their tables on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this lack of access to the foods that are so essential to a healthy diet increases the risk of many illnesses that disproportionately affect under-resourced communities.
The FoodShare Greenville program offers a biweekly produce box filled with a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. The variety varies with each box and with the seasons. Each box comes with ten to twelve locally sourced top-quality fruits and vegetables. The boxes can be ordered online and picked up at several partner sites across Greenville County. As of December 2024, Foodshare had distributed 103,449 boxes of produce and delivered more than a million pounds of produce.
Fresh Out of the Box with FoodShare is a social-media-based cooking segment that aims to teach the community how to cook quick, simple, delicious, and healthy meals and snacks using items that are in the current FoodShare box. Each segment features a local chef who demonstrates a recipe and talks the viewer through the cooking process. The health benefits of the ingredients are also discussed, and a recipe card is included in the FoodShare box. The segment can be viewed on the Mill Village Farms social media pages.
The FoodShare Dish
Eugena Talley is the chef and owner of The Herbal Farmercy, a Greenville-based vegan restaurant. Talley has been a guest chef on Fresh Out of the Box several times and has demonstrated various quick snack recipes. A mom to four children, the Greenville native is a whiz at making savory snacks that even the pickiest of eaters will enjoy. Her cucumber dill bites are one example of a recipe that parents can make for their little ones, teens can whip up on their own, or adults can make to adorn an appetizer plate for a dinner party.
I am no longer a volunteer at Mill Village Farms, but a full-time employee who serves in leadership as the community director for the organization. It has been incredible to meet so many people in the community whose lives and health have been positively impacted by receiving these produce boxes and following the recipes to learn more life-sustaining methods of cooking and eating. I am so happy I answered that call!
Learn more about FoodShare at millvillagefarms.org.
Cucumber Dill Bites
Courtesy of Eugena Talley
Prep time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 loaf Wonder Bread (or King’s Hawaiian rolls)
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1 package of dry Italian dressing mix
- Fresh dill
Instructions
- Cut the bread into small squares or cut open rolls, if using.
- Combine cream cheese, vegan mayo, and dry Italian dressing mix in a bowl.
- Spread cream cheese mixture onto bread. Use a resealable plastic bag with the corner snipped off to pipe cream cheese mixture onto bread for a neat look.
- Top with a cucumber slice and fresh dill.
Note: The spread is also delicious piped directly onto a cucumber slice and topped with fresh dill.
